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Stop Spending Impulsively With These Essential Tips

It’s hard to avoid your spending problem especially when you’re at the point where you already have frozen all of your credit cards. You try so hard to stay away from your favorite shopping malls however you still screw up your budget almost every month. Now, it’s about time to keep your impulsive spending in check.

You probably already read a lot of spending tips but you still manage to destroy your set budget for the month completely. Most of these blogs and books forget to focus on talking about a person’s willpower in stopping impulsive spending.

Sure, you can try to cut up all of your credit cards. However, these won’t stop you from getting tempted to buy things. One thing you can do is to avoid your spending impulse and fight it. Spending hacks do help however if you don’t have the willpower to do stop spending, you won’t get anywhere.

Here are tips to stop you from spending impulsively.

Wait It Out

Force yourself and wait. This will hone not only your willpower but also test it. You can try to set a rule such as a $120 rule. Here, you tell yourself to avoid buying stuff that’s more than $120. Other than that, you can force yourself to wait at least one week so you can think whether or not you want it or you are just impulsive.

Depending on your budget, you can change the numbers. You can try a $25 rule or lower. But the main point is that you should give yourself more time to decide whether or not you should spend. Aside from that, waiting will give you more time to look at discounts and deals.

Sometimes, impulsive spending is not just about big purchases. They can also be small purchases. You can try spending some time before buying something. Say you want to buy a $10 book, give yourself 10 minutes to think about it. If it’s a $20 stuff, give yourself 20 minutes and so on. It all depends on you.

If you’re thinking of making a home improvement or buying a second house, you can try cash out loans in Texas, however, give yourself some time to consider whether or not these are what you want.

When it comes to buying on Amazon, there’s the Amazon Contemplate Chrome extension that you can use. Everytime you click on something you want to buy, it will force you to wait for around 30 seconds. This gives you time to think hard whether you want the item or not.

Focus on Opportunity Cost

Resist the urge of spending and splurging by saving up for a specific goal. Think of spending as your enemy in achieving your financial goal. If you wanted to get out of debt by a particular date, thinking of buying a new bag will make you feel about your debt, so you avoid spending.

In general, an opportunity cost is what you are willing to give up when you use your money in buying stuff you don’t even need. Denying yourself of a splurge will make you feel like you’re making a big sacrifice. However, when you have a savings goal, you can reframe that ‘sacrifice’ into an opportunity.